The Y.A.R.D.S Program Teaches Kids How To Cultivate A Better Future

By Christine Erice

Isenberg points out several examples of xeriscape techniques used while on a garden tour with the students. Native plantings, active and passive water harvesting were used in the garden, thus, making it sustainable for the Sonoran Desert. Photos courtesy of Tucson Clean & Beautiful

The Youth Achieving Resource Development Skills (Y.A.R.D.S.) program began in 2010 and provides vocational training in landscape management for at-risk youth who have fallen through the cracks and landed in the Pima County Juvenile Court system.

Certified landscape professionals, such as Jason Isenberg, donate their time by providing expert instruction. Isenberg is founder and owner of Realm in Tucson, AZ- a landscape design and construction firm that specializes in sustainable landscape design and maintenance. After experiencing many successes in his professional life, Isenberg decided to donate his industry knowledge and experience to the Y.A.R.D.S. program.

''Teaching for the [Y.A.R.D.S] program is a great opportunity to interface directly with at-risk youth in a positive manner,'' says Isenberg. ''I teach them hands-on techniques to express themselves artistically in a safe and fun environment.''

Isenberg reviewed a student's design concept and stressed the need for strong landscape design that included plans for irrigation systems, hydrozones and seasonal plants.

Isenberg explains lighting schematics for a planter bed. Students were taught about design concepts, xeriscape and other sustainable landscape practices. Students were also taught to use individual design elements that offer form and function.

The Program

Youth, ages 15 to 17, are offered an opportunity to gain training in desert landscape maintenance trade skills as an alternative to traditional court-ordered community service and restitution work. The goal of the program is to keep these kids off the streets by empowering them with the education needed to propel them into the landscaping workforce. It has also provided landscape architects and contracting professionals a unique opportunity to help Arizona youth. Isenberg feels working with these students is beneficial both to the students and the landscape community as whole.

''Much of what I teach may actually translate into future job opportunities for these kids in landscaping,'' said Isenberg ''[Landscape] Education is the key to giving these youth a second chance.''

Class topics include tools and safety, desert plant identification, water harvesting, desert soil and water, planting site and plant selection, irrigation installation, climate change and desert landscape, tree pruning and maintenance, plant health, including: bugs, pesticides, herbicides, and other safety and health classes.